1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a strainer for supporting a snare assembly end of a snare drum and for switching a snare assembly between contact/noncontact states relative to a drumhead; and, a snare assembly holding structure for supporting the snare assembly end on the side of a drum shell body.
2. Description of Related Art
A snare drum comprises a top-side drumhead and a bottom-side drumhead disposed on opposite ends of a shell body, having hoops interposed there between, respectively. Further, a plurality of head adjustment devices, for adjusting tension of the drumheads, are disposed at equal angular intervals along the periphery, so as to connect the top-side hoop and the bottom-side hoop. Snare strainers located in opposition at opposite positions on the shell body (180 degrees apart) hold a snare assembly against the drum. The snare assembly is made up of a plurality of snare wires laid across and in contact with the bottom-side drum head. The assembly also operates such that the snare wires can be switched between a contact state and a noncontact state with respect to the bottom-side drumhead. At least one of the pair of strainers is a strainer equipped with a switch or lever mechanism that allows the snare assembly to switch between the contact/noncontact states by moving up and down, i.e., longitudinally with respect to the axis of the drum, with respect to the one end of the snare assembly being held. The other may also be a similar strainer equipped with a switch mechanism, or it may be a fixed type strainer without such a switch mechanism.
What has conventionally been provided on such a strainer, equipped with a switch mechanism for contact/noncontact conversion, are components such as: a base element fixed at the exterior circumferential surface of a shell body; a snare assembly holding element mounted on the base element so as to be freely movable upward and downward; a switch mechanism that moves forward and backward the snare assembly holding element relative to the base element so as to bring the movable end of the snare assembly into contact or out of contact with a bottom-side drumhead; and a tension adjustment screw that similarly moves forward and backward with the snare assembly holding element relative to the base element so as to fine-tune the tension of the snare assembly.
However, in use, beating the drum causes the timbre to change because vibrations cause the tension adjustment screw to perceptibly loosen, thus allowing the snare to become somewhat slack. As a result the snare tension head must be readjusted when performing to ensure high sound quality. However, this adjustment may impact sound quality and distract a player's concentration and may cause mistiming, missed cues or the like.